Financial Aid at Whitman

One of the real pleasures of our work in Penrose House is knowing that we touch the lives of many students. I think I can speak for everyone I work with when I say that we enjoy the opportunity to do community outreach; Marilyn Ponti, our Director of Financial Aid, along with the rest of our fabulous financial aid office, recently conducted a FAFSA and CSS Profile event that I was lucky enough to be involved in. This past Sunday, members of our staff reunited for a similar cause on College Goal Sunday, and helped other members of the community fill out these financial aid forms.

Which brings me to my next point: as we process the final pieces of the applications we have received, Friday, February 1 will bring with it a whole new deadline for us. This is the deadline for application for need-based aid. Those of you who we met on the road or have met us on campus have probably heard that Whitman gives out two types of financial aid: merit-based and need-based. For more information about either, I strongly recommend taking a look at our financial aid website: http://www.whitman.edu/offices-and-services/financial-aid. With the exception of the scholarships that we offer in the areas of art, debate, theater, and music, our merit-based aid requires no additional application. However, February 1 is of the utmost importance for students who have applied to Whitman Regular Decision. If a student is applying for need-based aid, we must have his or her FAFSA and CSS profile by this date. Unfortunately, if we receive these forms after Friday, there’s no guarantee that we’ll be able to offer a family financial aid.

We understand that these forms can be confusing and that there are all sorts of intricacies that go along with each student’s situation. Please feel free to reach out to our Office of Financial Aid this week as you arrange to send in these forms, if you haven’t already; our financial aid officers can be reached at (509) 527-5178. And, as always, any admission officer can help you get your questions answered. Here’s to getting one more deadline out of the way!